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I have been having a lot of flight time with my Fearless Tattoo under almost no wind condition. Somehow, I discover a very interesting thing. If I fly in the evening time when the temperature drops, the Tattoo is very floaty in the air. With about the same wind condition but in a hot sunny day, the Tattoo is a lot less floaty. It maybe that the cold air is more dense which gets the kite more push when I pull the lines. I discover this when I start feeling I need a lot more footwork to get the kite staying in the air in the hot sunny day than in the cold evening.

This looks like the truth from my own experiences. For the first few years I flew in the San Francisco Bay Area. After coming back to Singapore and flying in 80 - 90 degree temps with 80 - 90% humidity, my SUL kites seemed heavier for some reason.

You will also notice that it takes more work in the same conditions on a hot day if the grass was watered that morning or not. The hot "steam thermals" off the grass make it harder to fly because water vapor causes a lot of drag and in a sense weighs the kite down. Same reason flying in fog is tough.

... since the kite is wet (from the watering and associated moisture from contact with the ground) that the additional weight makes is less able to 'fly'.

In the case of SULs, maybe.

But with standard weight nylon kites, the moisture is absorbed by the fabric dramatically reducing the porosity. In light winds, the increase in sail efficiency far outweighs (excuse the pun) the weight penalty incurred, so the kite is easier to keep flying.

Don't believe me? On a light wind day at the beach allow your Carrington Midi Sandpiper to go for a swim then fly it dry.

Now it makes me wonder how floaty the difference is between flying a SUL at the top of the mountain and at the valley under the same wind condition and temperature. Air is less dense higher up, and so logically, it will be less floaty at the top of the mountain.

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